(370s - 380s S.E.)
Descent of the elven race
It was a day much like any other in Aquaston, an elven port city mainly noted for its burgeoning fishing industry and as one of the major links to the elven colonies of the South Continent. Despite its size and importance the city itself was a sharp contrast with non-elven cities of similar size.
There were of course plenty of tall and large buildings, and more under construction at any moment as befitting of a growing and booming city. However the streets were wide and lined with trees, public parks and gardens almost every few blocks, and a general atmosphere of airiness quite uncharacteristic of cities as understood by most. Combined with the cheerful and sedated climate, it was unsurprising that many of the inhabitants prefer the outdoors, and it was common to see joggers along on any given day.
All in all, the perfect place to hang around and observe the changes of elven society, which was why the Axeon Union's Bureau of Exotic Affairs had a branch there. Of course it wasn't that blatant, that would have been rather creepy (as well as technically illegal). Instead, the local branch ran a cafe called the Crossroads Cafe, which was also less of a front in that it was also instrumental in supplementing their local funding so as to not be a strain on the bureau itself. Given its employees' nature, it was the place for various Lost human tourists and business people to hang out at, despite being overall rather mediocre compared to a lot of the other cafes in the city.
It was at that place, in an otherwise unremarkable afternoon found at almost any point of the year where Bateua was sitting around, sipping on his coffee with cream. Given his job as a junior coordinator between the elves and various other races in joint business ventures, it was the logical place to be around. The idle chatter and gossip of the serving staff about things of the other world was merely a bonus.
The cafe front opened up to one of the city's secondary squares, which at this point was mostly free of stalls, as most people tend to take the time to rest and relax, preferably away from the heat. On that particular day though, there was a sizable crowd gathered at the square, listening to a female elf giving a political speech of some kind.
The particular elf at the center of attention was rather mundane looking, though as a race all elves tend to be beautiful by human standards, to orcs like Bateua however, they tend to look fragile and unbalanced. That's besides the point though, as whatever her physical appearance, she obviously had extraordinary amount of charisma, the crowd all but captivated by her speech, and even from what bits he's been able to hear it perked his interest…
"So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause." A voice muttered behind him. He turned his head to face the owner of the voice. Jack Coleman, if words were needed to describe him, would have been considered to be generic to the point of cliche. Of average size and build, a mop of black hair in a slightly messy fashion, he was pretty much cast out of the mold of isekais. Beyond the generic cover though lies a somewhat different character, which was how he ended up being resident advisor to this particular branch, with the cover job of assistant chef at the cafe.
"A bit too early to break out the Star Wars quotes aren't we?" Bateua replied. As with most natives who had plenty of contact with Lost humans he managed to acquired a decent amount of knowledge, mainly of the indirect knid, of the pop culture of the other world, also helped that there were enough people that many of those pop culture materials have ended up being released in the printed form, and a few even in made into theater plays. He sometimes wondered what kind of world those humans came from if they could devote so much of their time and efforts to memorize mere entertainment.
Jack didn't miss a beat, as Bateua is a regular at this establishment and he got to know the orc rather well, and thus already knew of his extensive knowledge of isekai cultures, one of the things that made him so effective at his job. He merely shrugged and continued. "This is literally how fascist movements start. A popular angry figure harnessing the rage of the discontent."
"Except there isn't exactly much in the way of discontent though?" Bateua pointed out. On the whole, the past few decades the special relationship between the elven state and the Union has brought both nations great prosperity and growth, and neither of those showed any signs of stopping in the near future.
"The crowd there begs to differ." Jack point a thumb at the square. Where the crowd was cheering at the speak, who seemed to have finished her little rambling.
"There's always enough crazies in a large population." Bateua rolled his eyes, "Hey." He suddenly had an idea, "Want me go over and ask her about her political ambitions?"
"You're nuts."
"At least I don't look like a generic isekai." Bateua grinned as he stood up and prepare to make his way towards the crowd of elves. Knowing that little stab had hit where it hurts, who said that words could never hurt a person?
……
Strolling through the crowd was both easier and harder than he anticipated, for while the crowd generally let him pass through, there was an undercurrent of mild fear, perhaps even hostility. The rabble rouser however was far more calm and collected, merely greeted him normally.
The charisma was there alright, possibly even partially magic induced but it's there. Bateua guessed there she might possess some sort of arua, not that knowledge if much of a defense against such things. Turns out that the speaker goes by the name of Amberea, a former border guard turned political rabble rouser, as far as Bateua could tell anyways.
Her positions, once stripped of their rhetoric, was almost elementary; to have the elven race take their proper place under the sun, to shake of the shackles of foreign paternalism, to make the South Continent bloom, to return elven culture to a true native culture. Just the usual pie in the sky wishlist with little bearing on reality and probably will never see the light of day, Bateua thought to himself, though of course wasn't stupid enough to voice that old loud.
"Well, I… I would just like to wish you the best of luck on your endeavors," Bateua said, suddenly and rather unplanned, "You have already rustled the feathers of a few people."
"Then we must be doing something correctly." She smiled, a hint of mischief. The smile disappeared and her eyes narrowed just so slightly, "Someone always loses when there's change, the question has always been a matter of acceptable losses. If all goes well, history will vindicate me and my actions."
"I don't think that phrase worked out for anyone who said it, regardless of which world they came from."
"Ah, I see you too is well versed in history." The smile came back, "But have you ever thought how fatalistic that point of view is?"
"I prefer to see it as learning from the experience of others."
"All theoretical, and if you haven't noticed, some key features are different in this world. For one, always chaotic evil actually exists." She said, alluding to the hundreds of Lost humans who have gotten themselves killed when attempting to tame and civilize the native ratlings and ogres of Ironi, laboring under the delusion that those races operate in the same way as the races of the old world.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Bateua asked, smelling a red herring.
"The implication that the same action doesn't necessarily end with the same results." Amberea answered, as she turned away. "If you'll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to."
As he watched her walk away with a group of flunkies he started to wonder if it was such a good idea to introduce all those political concepts to them, as the elves seemed to have taken many of them with a vengeance, or relish. It's not as if they have any grudges against.... Wait.
Things might get more interesting in the coming years, regardless of who this particular rabble rouser ends up in. After all, she's but an individual point that at most an indication of larger trends.
------
Seasons passed, time flew by, and life (and sometimes its unwelcome but inevitable companion death) continued. Yet the most things change, the more things stayed the same. Deals to be made, goods to be produced, people to be moved, places to be discovered and tamed, the usual march of civilization. And Bateua found himself once again at the Crossroads Cafe, taking a break and simply watching the passage of time.
"Read the news lately?" Jack asked nonchalantly.
"That in fact, I have. "Bateua replied, "Which is why you will probably not see me for a while, as I will be heading off to Ironi in a few weeks."
"You think it'll be that bad?"
"Absolutely." Bateua seemed pretty confident about it.
"Wonder if it isn't too late for us to get out of town…" Clouds of worry start to form around him.
"For what?" Bateua was suddenly confused, "It's mostly investors who will feel the pain, the tourists are forecasted to still come in large numbers."
"Wait, what?" Now it's Jack's turn to be confused. "I don't think we're talking about the same things." He hazarded a guess.
"I was talking about the expected slowing down of colonization of the South Continent, what were you thinking of?"
"So you didn't read the news after all! That rabble rouser Amberea's is now the head of the Confederacy! Her damn party managed to win a majority of the seats in the grand council!"
"Oh." Was all that came out of Bateua's mouth.
"Yeah, I think now it's the appropriate time for that Star Wars quote." Jack continued while Bateua begin to reassess his choices of regular news sources.
Before either of them spoke again an elf, dressed, if it could be called such, in the uniform of the National Unity Party, intruded upon their conversation. After a curt exchange of greetings, she handed Bateua a cream colored envelope, then quickly left.
"What the heck was that about?" Jack asked as Bateua opened the envelope. He looked at it, then frowned.
"I'm really regretting that that little sudden action from that time years ago…"
------
If Starlack, the capital city of the elves, were to be described in one word, that word would be pretentious. Billed as the rebuilding of the first city of the ancient elven civilization, in actuality the city was an entirely fresh construct, right down to the location, which was sited for reasons of geography rather than mythology. Beneath all the shiny and glossy looking towers stood a perfectly modern and contemporary city, with all the plumbing, and roads as one sees just about everywhere on this side of the borders.
The Hall of Assembly was little different in most regards, except in that whoever designed it didn't bother to fight for height, which will always be a losing battle in the face of progress and technological advance. Instead, it was pretty obvious said person went with the overly tacky approach, which had the overall effect of making the building appearing almost a parody of its purpose.
As he meanders through the ornate halls in searching for a specific room Bateua wondered if he made the right choice in accepting this offer. After all, he's an outsider, and by most indication and analysis from the Lost humans this new elven regime will be rather intolerant soon enough. He finally found the room he's looking for, and after a simple knock and hearing a confirmation, opened the door.
"Welcome to our little circle Bateua," Amberea said smoothly, "and I'm so glad that you can make it."
She was sitting behind a surprisingly moderate sized desk, and she was far from alone, there were a number of others gathered around the desk, mostly elves but also a human amongst the group. Bateua raised an eyebrow at the sight of a human amongst them.
"Allow me to introduce the incoming administration." Amberea said, noticing Bateua's expression. She waved a hand at the most normal looking of the group. "This is Naresa, the vice chairman. He was on the track to teach political science at the national academy before I convinced him to take a chance at some more hands on in politics."
The hand moved on to an interesting looking elf, if she was actually an elf, her dark skin and bleached blond hair a sharp contrast to what elves normally looks like, and that's before commenting on her choice of clothing, which in Bateua's uninformed opinion seems to be consist of an unholy amount of belts and various pieces of leather, all black, all in no noticeable pattern. "She's Oesa, and she will be head of the soon to be formed State Security Service. Oh, and if you couldn't tell already she's a native of the South Continent."
After that, she pointed at a small looking elf, whose most notable feature was the pair of glasses she's wearing. "This is Pareau, minister of Truth and Public Enlightenment. You know, what you would call the propaganda bureau. She's one of the daughter of the owner of the largest newspaper in the country, not an heir though, so here she is."
The hand next moved towards the human, and if Jack was an example of a generic isekai, this man would be the example of a sketchy isekai, with his jet black hair, narrow and hard eyes, and wearing an uniform so customized that it might as well be a unique. "And him, he is Erwin Manstein von Guderian… general adviser to the National Unity Party, and now by extension, the government. One of our own isekais, so to speak."
She droned on about the various others in the group, but Bateua paid little attention, as even at first impression he was already getting bad vibes from that human, the weird ass name certainly didn't help, as most Lost humans' names tend to be on the curt and short side. Thus the opposite would indicate something along the line of arrogance, or whatever, he really had no clue come to think of it. He wished Jack was around to analyze this, but he wasn't invited to this.
"... and since you have a good knowledge base of what the rich and powerful of the countries on this side of the borders like, will you accept a position in our government's foreign relations?"
Bateua blinked, for while he for the most part expected to be dragged into the orbit of this mad elf he wasn't exactly expecting a position, not this quickly at any rate.
"I… I'd be honored." He replied, while wondering what could have possibly motivated him to say that. He immediately concluded that it was mainly because he doesn't want to head off to that death continent Ironi, regardless of the supposed business opportunities there.
"Good, good." She said. "Now let's get business started…"
------
"Well, that explains a lot." Jack said. "And by a lot I mean not much at all."
The two of them, Jack and Bateua, were walking on one of the streets of Nob Cove, one of the numerous planned towns on the South Continent. Besides the use of local materials the unmistakable feature of elven towns, namely the abundance of trees and fountains, were evident, despite what must be insane, if not wasteful, amount of water usage.
Such appearance of wastefulness seems to be the norm all across the South Continent, especially since the new chairman Amberea declared "war" of "reclamation" against the deserts of the continent.
Despite the melodramatic and ridiculous nature of the proclamation, the reclamation war was nothing more than massive infrastructure development and geo-engineering projects with a heavy dose of rhetoric, and military involvement. The purpose of all that was of course to make the desert bloom and productive, a goal that many of the Lost humans in various countries had derided as insane and delusional.
The whole plan would have been unthinkable by Lost human standards, however the elves weren't playing by the normal rule book as written by isekais. The almost ubiquitous usage of golems, an innovation almost wholly developed by the elves, and the prodigious amount of mana produced and gathered by the elves themselves to fuel those and countless other magic based constructs allowed mega projects to use far less sapient labor and material resources than it would otherwise have.
"Well, I'm glad for your insights regardless." Bateua said. It had been a long time since either of them contacting the other, mostly because of the situation Bateua has gotten himself into. It didn't long to figure out that the whole State Security isn't something to be taken lightly, and thus correspondence between the two discussing anything more important than the weather dropped to next to nothing.
Thus it was an golden opportunity when Bateua made a trip to the South Continent to assess the progress of the reclamation and to dressed it up appropriately to foreign investor, in other words his usual clients from back in the day. Jack, of course was merely a simply traveler who wishes to see the sights of a new world being transformed.
"If nothing else, that wehraboo douchebag is bad news all around." Jack continued. "I'll see what I can dig up about him, but from what little you told me he seems to be someone who should be on the other side of the borders."
"That bad?" Bateua was more than a bit skeptic, as Lost humans tend to overblow threats, especially concerning their fellow types across the border.
"Yes, it is that bad. We're talking about people who salivating over killing large numbers of near defenseless people level of crazy here, and they deny about it if called out on their bullshit." He continued in a quieter voice. "You gotta stop him somehow, or else this world will burn."
"Oh come on, give me a break." Bateua rolled his eyes. "He's just one man for crying out loud."
"Who just happens to have the ears of the most powerful person in this country at the moment."
"Yeah well, there's a bunch of them who has her ears. He's hardly the only one."
"He's an isekai."
"Which meant shit when the Union and the Republic tore one out of the human empire back in the day."
Jack simply shook his head as his attention once again drifted away from the conversation. The entire trip was full of sights, mostly of the sapient made variety, which doesn't detract much from their impressive size regardless. From the massive desalination plants to the web of canals crisscrossing the land to the ever advancing sets of walls and barriers pushing back the seemingly endless deserts. This time however, he was eyeing the elves walking about, specifically the those that were born on the continent.
"I know, I know, they looks just gives everyone the creeps." Bateua said quietly, "but really once you get to know them they are really nice and laid back. The hard part of course will be to get that knowledge past all the baked in prejudices, but then again that's where the challenge lies."
"Oh no, I don't think they look creepy at all." Jack replied, "In fact I think they're very beautiful." He adjusted his shorts, probably because some bug got in, Bateua thought. The damn buzzards and gadflies seems to follow the infrastructure and the vegetation, sometime he wondered if bring civilization was a good idea given how much baggage seems to come along for the ride, for better or worse.
"Though moving on from that." Bateua continued, "It seems that those elves born and raised on this continent seems to have greater reserves of mana, which probably explains the amount of golems and other magic based tools and the rapidness of their development of the continent."
"The government back on the old world pouring in what amounts to war time levels of spending also doesn't hurt." Jack pointed out. "In your best guess, how long do you think they could keep this up?"
"You know that I'm not exactly privy to minutes of their budget."
"But you have your hunches."
"You probably won't believe this then, but I think the venture will soon begin to pay for itself."
"That's crazy talk."
"Look around you, the place is ripe for industries and commerce. The infrastructure is in place, the population and markets also."
"Well, if you're correct, then that may be good news."
"What do you mean?"
"That their appetite for conquest are being sated here and now."
"And I probably shouldn't ask this, but if not?"
"Then we might see a war within the decade." He shrugged.
-----
More time passed, seasons (where they existed as such) marched by, the machinery of life and civilizations continues their grind. The deserts of South Continent blossomed into gardens while millions hacked through the metal rich lands of Ironi and extract its boundless wealth, paying their price in blood and sweat.
…...
It was the first of such games and athletic events anywhere in this world, although it certainly wasn't the first time such an idea has been floated in known worlds of the multiverse. The influences from a certain other infamous game from a certain other world was clearly shown in the first ever Elven Games. The massive stadiums, built over the past decade ever since the new regime took power, the militarized uniforms of the participating athletes (even though by human standards they were on the skimpy side of things, the orcs and dragons thought those little pieces of cloth were just there for painted numbers), the torch relay supposedly derived from some ancient elven rites, the massive banners in vivid colors draped across just about every surface in the capital city, the bombastic speeches by Amberea and other bigwigs of the government about the new age of the elven race and the great awakening of elven culture.
It was all very spectacular to most of the spectators present, and only the Lost humans noticing the rather obvious references.
"Oh god, it's like I'm in an weeaboo version of the 1936 Berlin Olympics." Jack muttered. He and Bateua were sitting among a number of other humans, orcs, and elves in a section of the newly completed Spiral Stadium watching the opening ceremonies. While officially there was no segregation of the races, people's tendencies to congregate to those similar to them as well as the lack of assigned seating meant that the end results were pretty self segregated. "I bet that wehraboo Erwin is behind all of this."
"Another pop culture reference from your world?" Bateua asked. It's always rather annoying when the Lost human speak of things in his world with the expectation that everyone in this one would immediately understand.
"More of a history reference, of a time when it appeared that evil was at the apex of its power."
"Or maybe you're reading into this too much again, let's just enjoy the games and the natural appeal of bodies in motion."
Once past the opening ceremonies, the actual athletics events themselves, which took place over a period of a few weeks, were rather oddly mundane. There was the usual track and field events, the equine events, and certain sports such as tennis (which ironically the participants in that had the most conservative dress, though quite a few of the Lost humans would instantly recognize where those took their inspiration from). Interestingly enough, there weren't any contact sports present.
Overall, it was a rather enjoyable experience, as long as one was ignorant of the outworldly roots of the games. That was why Jack didn't really bother to attend most of the events, his excuse being that he simply wasn't interested in sports, and Bateua wasn't motivated enough to ask deeper.
……
'Here we go.' Bateua thought to himself. It was the closing ceremonies of the Elven games, and for once he had to be present along with the rest of Amberea's posse at the grandstand, a far cry from that soap box all those years ago. Something about big changes to the elven nation state or something along those lines. To get through what he figured would be a long and rather boring speech he was nursing a shot of whisky, held in a heavy lowball glass.
"... and in light of the needs of the elven people in this modern age of great opportunities but also of great dangers, a strong and decisive hand is necessary to navigate the ship of state." Amberea droned on. "I hereby announce the reformation of the Lasce Confederacy into the Lasce Imperial State!"
There was a massive applause across the entire stadium, and it was that moment Bateua realized that quote from jack, all those years ago.
"Damn it, this is the time to make that reference." He muttered to himself as he downs the rest of his drink. "Well, too late to worry about that now."
The applause was still ongoing when the unmistakable bark of a pistol rang out. Everyone in the room immediately turned their heads, to see Erwin dropping to the ground, leaking quite a bit of blood.
"Sic semper tyrannis!" Jack shouted, holding a revolver in his hand.
Even till the end of his life, Bateua could never explain why he did what he did at that point. Possibly instinct, or plot induced movement as the Lost humans called it. Whatever the reasoning it was quite irrelevant. Before anyone else could react he threw the heavy glass in his hand at Jack.
The glass hit him in the chest, then fell to the floor where it shattered into hundreds of pieces. It wasn't enough to even hurt him, but it was enough to make him drop his gun momentarily. That fleeting moment was enough as two guards were upon him within a moment, and slammed him to the ground.
------
"While I'm certainly thankful for your great generosity and mercy, but I'm at a loss of understanding as to why you would do this." Bateua asked. It was a week later, and he was in Amberea's office.
It was too late for Erwin, who by the time medics showed up has already left the mortal coil of this world, a process probably all too familiar to him. Meanwhile Jack was held in detention until Amberea decided to pardon him, though only on the condition that he leaves the country immediately and never come back. As for Bateua, the impromptu hero of the night? He was now closer to the inner circle than ever before.
"It's simple, a little thing called cruel mercy." She replied coyly. "By letting him go I have just destroyed his entire narrative, and no one will believe a word he says about me for the foreseeable future. The Lost Bureau itself has also lost quite a bit of face in this." Seeing Bateua's shocked expression, she smiled. "Do you guys really think you could hide that kind of stuff for any length of time? Oesa's quite competent you know."
"I… um." He begin, trying to choose his next words carefully.
"Relax, you're fully vetted." She smiled, though it was more of a predatory smile than usual. "Moving on, the death of Erwin was rather regrettable but also rather convenient. I was planning on exiling him at some point in a non-violent version of the Night of the Long Knives, but his death now will allow me to shift a lot of the blame on him, and it's not like there's going to be anyone defending him."
"But, why are you telling me all of this?" Bateua asked, "Isn't it generally a really bad idea to reveal all your plans before their completion?"
"Because things are too far in motion for anyone to stop them." The smile widened. "In many cases the so called great people were merely embodiments of the will of the peoples, and I don't think I'm that different."
With a chill Bateua realized that she's quite correct. Killing her now will not bring back the sedentary elves that he knew.